The Early Habsburgs

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To make it easier for you to share the podcast, I have created separate playlists for some of the seasons that are set up as individual podcasts. they have the exact same episodes as in the History of the Germans, but they may be a helpful device for those who want to concentrate on only one season.

So far I have:

Ep. 204: Habsburg Dukes (1308-1437) – Rudolf IV, Founder and Forger - History of the Germans

Thu, 28 Aug 2025 05:00:00 +0100

Rudolf IV of Habsburg (1339–1365), son of Albrecht “the Wise,” reigned as Duke of Austria for just seven years but left a lasting mark. Born when the dynasty seemed close to extinction, Rudolf secured Austria’s survival and prestige. Politically, he sought to elevate Vienna by founding the University of Vienna (1365) and beginning construction of St. Stephen’s Cathedral. Though he fulfilled his father's ambition to gain the Tyrol, the family fell behind their rivals, namely the Luxemburgs.

Rudolf’s most audacious act was the Privilegium Maius, a set of forged charters claiming ancient Roman emperors had granted Austria near-sovereign status, primogeniture, and the unique title of Archduke. Though denounced by Petrarch as absurd, the documents shaped Habsburg identity for centuries and underpinned later power.

By creating myths of divine and heroic origins, Rudolf forged a sense of Habsburg exceptionalism. Though dying young without heirs, he truly was “the Founder.”

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Ep. 205: Habsburg Dukes (1308-1437) – Sempach, Birth of a Nation - History of the Germans

Thu, 04 Sep 2025 05:00:00 +0100

On July 9th, 1386 in a field near the Sempach lake., the armies of archduke Leopold of Austria line up against the forces of the city of Lucerne and the men of Uri, Schwyz and Nidwalden

Much of what hads been told about this batte, the backstory of the Swiss Confederation and the objectives of the Habsburgs have been drenched in myth. Myths that are in the main debunked. That being said, the story is still dramatic and hugely important.

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Ep. 206: Habsburg Dukes (1308-1437)– Division, Destruction and Degradation - History of the Germans

Thu, 11 Sep 2025 05:00:00 +0100

Success for a princely family in the Late Middle Ages has a lot to do with reproductive luck. Not having any offspring, in particular no male offspring is a bit of a knockout. But having too many sons that could be a major issue too.

And in 1386 the Habsburgs struggled with exactly that problem. Their territory was already divided between an Albertine and a Leopoldine line. But then Leopold had four sons, bringing the number of archdukes of Austria to six, which is five too many.

In this episode we will discuss how they managed to muck it up quite bad, in fact so bad, one of their number had to fall to his knees before the emperor, not once, not twice, but three times…

Albertiner

- Albrecht III (1349-1395)

o Albrecht IV (1377-1404)

§ Albrecht V (II) (1397-1439)

· Ladislaus Postumus (1440-1457)

Leopoldiner

- Leopold III (1351-1386)

o Wilhelm (1370-1406)

o Leopold IV (1371-1411)

o Ernst der Eiserne (1377-1424)

§ Friedrich V (III) (1415-1494)

§ Albrecht VI (1418-1463)

o Friedrich IV (1382-1439)

§ Siegismund der Munzreiche (1427-1496)

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Ep.207: Habsburg Dukes (1308-1437) - How the Habsburgs got their Chin - History of the Germans

Thu, 18 Sep 2025 05:00:00 +0100

“The Habsburgs ruled half of Europe with a chin that entered the room five minutes before they did,” is one of those witticisms that made the 19th century so amusing. But by then the Habsburg jaw had long receded.

It had its heyday in the 16th and 17th century when people in Spain called out to the future emperor Charles V: “Your majesty, shut your mouth! The flies of this country are very insolent.” And when they looked at his later descendant, king Charles II who was probably the worst affected, they said, he was “more Habsburg than human”.

But where is the Habsburg Jaw from? The view repeated again and again in history books is that it came from Cymburga of Masovia, the wife of duke Ernst the Iron, but was she really responsible? Or was it something quite different that caused that deformation, and what has it to do with the prostration of duke Friedrich IV before emperor Sigismund in 1415?

That is what we are looking at in this episode.

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Ep. 208: Albrecht II (1438-1439) - Boy Meets Princess, Boy Becomes King - History of the Germans

Thu, 25 Sep 2025 05:00:00 +0100

Last week we saw the family slowly climbing out of the hole that Friedrich IV of the Tyrol had dug them. But despite all these consolidation efforts, the family was still in the second league of European princely families.

Then, just 25 years after Ernst the Iron married down into minor Polish royalty, his first cousin once removed, Albrecht V became King of Hungary, King of the Romans and King of Bohemia, all in one single year, 1438.

How was that possible? Here is friend of the podcast, Eneas Silvio Piccolomini summarizing events: quote

Albrecht grew up and married Elizabeth, daughter of King Sigismund. She was a very beautiful woman, who lived with him most virtuously. After the Bohemians had turned to heresy and terrorised all their neighbours with wars, he alone, with great strength, protected Moravia and Austria, and the damage he inflicted upon the Bohemians was not less than the damage he took from them.

He was always in arms and, like the Bohemians, used waggon formations in battle. Making his soldiers undergo hard military training, Albrecht was the only one of all their neighbours whom the Bohemians feared, having been often defeated by him and put to flight.

When his father-in-law Sigismund died, the Hungarians soon called him to the kingship, and the Bohemians followed suit. Thus, in a very short time, he gained two large kingdoms. In the meantime, the electors of the Empire, having heard about Sigismund’s death, elected Albrecht as King of the Romans and sent their decree to him in Vienna.” End quote

Bish bash bosh – that is it, end of episode. Thanks for coming.

OK, maybe we have to go with Skipper from the Penguins of Madagascar and demand: Kowalski- Analysis

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Ep. 209: Friedrich III (1440-1493) - The First Habsburg Emperor - History of the Germans

Thu, 02 Oct 2025 05:00:00 +0100

Today we – and the Habsburgs – stride back on to the grand stage of European politics. Not with a titan of history or monarch whose long and fruitful reign resonates across the centuries, but with Friedrich III, better known as the Reichserzschlafmütze - the imperial arch sleepy head, Or perhaps more fittingly the imperial arch dawdler.

He ruled from 1440 to 1493, a total of 53 years - the longest reign of any Holy (or unholy) Roman Emperors (bar Constantine VIII). And yet, is also the most derided of reigns. In 1878 the Historian Georg Voigt sneered: “He was not remotely capable of handling such far-reaching politics, leaving Bohemia to its own devices, the Hungarian throne dispute to the helpless queen dowager, Austria to the arrogant dynasts, and the mercenary and robber bands.” “His light, simple hair, his long face with little movement, and his sedate gait betrayed a sluggish, deliberate nature, to which any enthusiasm, indeed any excitement, was alien. His love of peace has been endlessly mocked, but it was based on a completely dull sense of manhood and honour. No prince was so easily consoled by such insolent and repeated insults.” End quote.

Modern historians are kinder, praising his thorough education and dogged determination to preserve what was left of the majesty of the Holy Roman Emperors. But even they can’t avoid calling him flabby, underhand and happy to sell out his friends and allies.

Not exactly the kind of guy one wants to spend three or four episodes with. But this is history, not Hollywood. The nice guys do not usually win by yanking hard on the levers of destiny. More often than not tenacious men of low cunning, who weasel their way through, are the ones who are bringing the results.

And results he did get. At the end of his reign, the empire had changed profoundly. The open constitution of the Middle Ages had given way to a denser and more structured organization.

Why and how Friedrich III – despite all his many shortcomings - got to move the needle of German history is what we will look at over the next few weeks.

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Ep. 210: Ladislaus Postumus (1440-1457) - Lord of all, Ruler of No One - History of the Germans

Thu, 16 Oct 2025 05:00:00 +0100

Our journey today will take us away from the emperor Friedrich III who will spend most of the episode holed up in his castle at Wiener Neustadt, fretting and gardening.

Instead we look at the dramatic life of his younger cousin, Ladislaus Postumus, king of Hungary, king of Bohemia and Archduke of Austria. This will take us back to Prague and its complex religious politics, to Vienna where the people fall for the alluring promises of a populist and to Hungary where one of the greatest generals of the age squares up against Mehmet II, the conqueror of Constantinople.

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Ep. 211: Friedrich III (1440-1493) – Hitting Rock Bottom - History of the Germans

Thu, 23 Oct 2025 05:00:00 +0100

It is November 1462 and the emperor Friedrich III and his young family are huddling together in the cellars of the Hofburg. The citizens of Vienna are shooting cannonballs into the 13th century castle, the walls are crumbling and any moment now the angry crowds may break in. Outside, supporting the insurrection stood his own brother, calling on him to give up.

Two crowns he has already lost and a third is about to be knocked off his head as the imperial princes had ganged up on him. Friedrich III was a man who firmly believed in ancient laws and traditions and was profoundly ill suited for a world where, as Picciolomini wrote in the last sentence of his history of the emperor Friedrich III quote: “We are of the opinion that empires are won by weapons, not by legal means!”

Friedrich III and with him the Habsburgs hit rock bottom, but how and why exactly he ended up there, and w hat that tells us about the profound changes during this period of history is what we are going to explore in this episode.

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Ep. 212: Matthias Corvinus (1443-1490) – The Library of the Raven King - History of the Germans

Thu, 30 Oct 2025 05:00:00 +0100

Today we will talk a lot about Matthias Corvinus, the legendary renaissance king of Hungary whose library outshone that of the Medici in Florence and whose standing army was one of the greatest – and most expensive - military forces in 15th century Europe.

Why are we talking about a Hungarian ruler in a series about the Habsburgs? Trust me, there is a good reason beyond it being a fascinating life story.

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Ep. 213: Friedrich III (1440-1493) – Duping the Duke of Burgundy - History of the Germans

Thu, 06 Nov 2025 05:00:00 +0100

How long can an emperor not be an emperor. The official record stands at 25 years, that is how long Friedrich III had stayed out of the core areas of the Holy Roman Empire. That meant 25 ears of Imperial Diets without the presence of an Emperor, 25 years of stasis on the challenges of the time, the reform of the empire and the defense against the Ottoman expansion.

But sometime in the late 1460s the apathic emperor Friedrich III, dubbed the Imperial Arch Sleepy head awakes and does what he had never done before, something. And that something turned into a lot of things, some related toimperial reform, but the most significant something for European history was a marriage, well, an engagement for now, followed by a flight down the river Mosel away from the intended father of the bride.

Yes, it is that famous marriage, just not in the way you may have thought it happened.

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Ep. 214: Friedrich III (1440-1493) - The Siege that Woke up an Empire - History of the Germans

Thu, 13 Nov 2025 05:00:00 +0100

The venerable city of Neuss between Cologne and Düsseldorf was founded in 16 BC as a Roman army camp, making it one of the oldest in Germany. Its history is marked by the usual mix of feuds with its archepiscopal overlord and the establishment of a trading and pilgrimage hub.

Despite its Roman remains, the impressive church of St. Quirinius, and proximity to where I grew up, Neuss may never have appeared on the History of the Germans Podcast, had it not sustained a 10 month long siege in 1474/1475.

A siege, even a brutal and prolonged one is not sufficiently unusual to be included in the show. But this one merits almost a whole episode. Tales of the heroic defense of a small town on the Rhine against an overbearing foe intent on wiping out their way of life, coalesced the empire in a way it had not come together since the days of Frederick Barbarossa.

A watershed was crossed, under the leadership of an emperor who was more surprised than anyone to be put at the head of the resistance.

And that is not all, in this episode we will also cover the very first trial for war crimes ever that took place in another small town in the same year 1474.

Ep. 215: Charles the Bold (1433-1477) - Death in the Cold - History of the Germans

Thu, 20 Nov 2025 05:00:00 +0100

The rise of the Habsburgs to world domination pivots on one crucial moment, the marriage of Maximilian of Habsburg to Mary of Burgundy, the daughter of Charles the Bold, last of the Grand Dukes of the West.

The usual story is that young Maximilian one day walked down the aisle of some splendid cathedral and was handed the richest principality in Europe on an jewel-encrusted golden platter by the father of the bride. All he then had to do was lie down and think of the Habsburg-Burgundian empire.

That is not quite what happened. When Maximilian arrived in Ghent in August 1477, his father-in-law lay dead in a ditch in Lorraine and large sways of ducal authority and income had gone. Within less than 3 years, 1474 to 1477 Charles the Bold had frittered away the mythical wealth of the Burgundian dukes. And not just that.

These years between 1474 and 1477 helped turn the medieval empire into the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. So please allow me to do this episode, even though very, very few of the protagonists or parties to the conflicts are Germans in the modern sense.

Ep. 216: Maximilian I (1493-1519) - The Youth of an Emperor - History of the Germans

Thu, 27 Nov 2025 05:00:00 +0100

What is it like to grow up the son of the emperor? For most of the rulers of the Holy Roman Empire we have covered so far, no idea. There are scarce reports about the way the princes grew up, safe for tales like the emperor Ludwig the Bavarian being kidnapped by his pet monkey. But now, as the Late Middle Ages make way for the Renaissance, we can see the boy who would be king at play, being fed by his nursemaid and pretending to be a knight at a tournament.

And even better, this emperor is Maximilian, the last Knight, one of the most iconic rulers of his time. Come along as we descend into the delights and terrors of his epic childhood, complete with mythmaking in drawings and woodcuts.

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Ep. 217: Maximilian I (1493-1519) – When Mary Met Maxi - History of the Germans

Thu, 04 Dec 2025 05:00:00 +0100

How often have you heard this phrase “Let others wage war; you, happy Austria, marry". It goes back to a whole string of marriages, first Maximilian of Habsburg married the heiress of the duchy of Burgundy, then his son married the heiress of Spain and finally his grandson married the heiress of Hungary and Bohemia. And bish bash bosh, an empire is created in the horizontal.

That is nice and neat but not exactly true. Sure the marriages happened, but not in the way at least I have been told. There was a lot more drama and a lot more agency than you think. For a whole six months Maximilian, the Last Knight in his shining armour, left Marie of Burgundy to fend off invasions, revolutions and conspiracies on her own. She was imprisoned, her ministers were hanged and she was told marriage to a 7-year old hunchback was her only wayout. How she managed through that and found herself in the very first truly passionate marriage we have heard about in the History of the Germans Podcast, well, that is what we are talking about today.

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Ep. 218: Maximilian I (1493-1519) – The Death of Mary of Burgundy - History of the Germans

Thu, 11 Dec 2025 05:00:00 +0100

By 1477 the rules of war that had been enshrined in the laws of chivalry are gone. The contest between the French and the Habsburgs over the inheritance of the Grand Dukes of the West gives us a foretaste of the things to come.

This war isn’t just fought between the opposing armies lining up for the decisive battle, but include wholesale starving out of the population, funding local uprisings and using propaganda and bribery to incite rebellions on the enemy’s homefront.

No one in 15th century Northern Europe is better at this new game than the industrious spider, king Louis XI of France. But a plucky 18-year old Austrian duke who had arrived in Ghent with not much more than the clothes on his back, abundant energy and a budding military genius gave him a run for his huge amounts of money, until tragedy struck.

Lots of deception, drama and devastation today….

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Ep.219: Maximilian I (1493-1519) – The Fall of Ghent - History of the Germans

Thu, 18 Dec 2025 05:00:00 +0100

The words High and Late Middle Ages conjures up images of fog rising up over a field where knights in shining armor are trading blows with double handed swords, mighty bishops overseeing the construction of monumental cathedrals and peasants toiling on the land as serfs.

The reason we see it that way goes back to the chivalric literature that celebrated the aristocratic lifestyle where tournaments and poetry mattered more than the humdrum world of business.

But let’s just take a look back at the High Middle Ages, the time of Richard the Lionheart, Saint Louis and Frederick Barbarossa. Who controlled access to the great endeavor of the time, the conquest of the Holy Land? Who re-opened up the connections to the wider world, from Novgorod to India and China? Who were the most ferocious fighters who neither expected norgranted any quarter? Who had all the money?

These were the great cities of Italy, of Flanders, of Picardie and Provence and of the Holy Roman Empire. Verona under the Della Scala in the 14th century generated tax revenues twice as high as those of England, Venice capacity was sixty percent of what France could generate. And these cities fielded armies that, as we know, defeated the Holy Roman Emperors, even the most capable ones like Barbarossa and Frederick II time and time again. Their absolute dedication to fight to the end was evidenced by their extremely heavy and slow war carts, the Carroccios and by the bravery of the Flemish Militia at the Battle of the Golden Spurs. And the first European since Roman times to make to India and China wasn’t a Knight errant, but a Venetian merchant, nor were the vast lands on the Eastern side of the continent linked up by military force. The crusades, the grand project of the age was as much a venetian mercantile adventure as a religious pilgrimage, culminating in the sack of Constantinople in 1204.

What happened? Where did all these city states go? And why?

That is what we are going to discuss today, when we look at the showdown between Maximilian of Habsburg, widower of the last duchess of Burgundy and father of Philip, the universally recognised heir of the Low Countries and the Flemish cities, and specifically its largest, the city of Ghent.

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Ep. 220: Maximilian I (1493-1519) - The Burgundian Experience(s) - History of the Germans

Thu, 08 Jan 2026 05:00:00 +0100

In this episode the 15-year long war over the Burgundian succession will come to its end. You may have thought it was done last time, but no. The revolutionary spirit of the Flemish cities is not yet broken and their most audacious move is still to come. And this time they are not going up against an archduke and regent, but against a newly elected king of the Romans.

Maximilian of Habsburg’s experience in Burgundy swung between moments of utter delight and happiness and depths of death, destruction and despair. It shaped this young duke who arrived aged 18 full of dreams of chivalry and left, aged 31 an battle hardened general with a clear view of where he wanted to take the empire. Get ready for the ultimate roller coaster.

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Ep. 221: Maximilian I (1493-1519) – Taking Back Austria and Tyrol - History of the Germans

Thu, 15 Jan 2026 05:00:00 +0100

After 13 years of fighting in the Low Countries, Maximilian, the newly elected king of the Roman, returns home to a rammed full inbox. There is his cousin, the dissolute count Sigismund of Tyrol who is about to sell out the family fortune to the dukes of Bavaria. The king of Hungary is still occupying Vienna – and there is a new heiress out on the market, Anne of Brittanny.

Some of the issues he tackles together with his now seriously elderly father, the emperor Friedrich III, others are very much his own tasks. In the process Friedrich creates a structurally new political entity, the Swabian League, Maximilian builds a relationship with Jakob Fugger, the money man who will grease the cogs of the Habsburg empire, and once again they fight, one battle after another.

And despite tremendous success, this period from 1489 to 1493, ends with some epic humiliation, not in war, but in love. “No man on earth has ever been disgraced as I have been at the hands of the French” is how he summarised it.

Come along and watch as the plot thickens.

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Ep. 222: Maximilian I (1493-1519) – Italian Wars and Spanish Marriages - History of the Germans

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 05:00:00 +0100

The world is a-changing. Maximilian I may still dream of the medieval universal empire where he will lead Christendom in an epic crusade to expel the Turks from the European mainland, even reconquering Jerusalem. Meanwhile his main adversary, king Charles VIII of France unleashed the fury of war in Italy, kicking off a struggle that would last for 50 years and replaced the medieval world of popes and emperors with a system based on the balance of powers.

In the near term, this expedition to conquer the kingdom of Naples triggered not only the outbreak of Syphilis, but also the double marriage between Habsburg and Spain that Maximilian did not want, but ended up being the second of the three marriages that created an empire.

Lots to get through, none of it boring..

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Ep. 223: Imperial Reform 1495 – The Diet of Worms - History of the Germans

Thu, 29 Jan 2026 05:00:00 +0100

We are now 7 episodes into the action-packed life of emperor Maximilian and he is only 35 years old. We still have another 24 years to go and they will be again full of wars, outlandish schemes, including one where he wants to make himself pope and of course marriages that create an empire. But if you look into German history schoolbooks, the thing that Maximilian is most famous for is what we will discuss today, the Imperial reforms that start in earnest in 1495 and will go through some iterations, before being largely completed in 1555.

Of the 1495 reforms, the Ewige Landfrieden is the most impactful. And it begins as follows quote:

“..from this moment on, no person of whatever rank, status, or condition shall make war on others, or rob, declare feud with, invade, or besiege them, or help anyone else to do so in person or through servitors; or violently occupy any castle, town, market, fortress, village, farmstead, or hamlet, or seize them illegally against another's will, or damage them with fire or in any other way, or assist by word or deed or in any other way support or supply any perpetrators of such deeds, or knowingly harbor, house, feed, or give drink, aid, and comfort to such persons.”

That sounds great. Who could possibly disagree with that? Why did it take months and months of negotiations to agree this?

Let’s find out.

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Ep. 224: Imperial Reform 1495 – The Reichstag of the Holy Roman Empire - History of the Germans

Thu, 05 Feb 2026 05:00:00 +0100

I am afraid today’s episode is not your usual swordplay and skullduggery. What we are looking at today is the Reichstag as it operated throughout the Holy Roman Empire from 1495 to 1803. Sounds a bit like dour constitutional law, but bear with me.

We will look at a couple of classic tropes, like, whether the empire consisted of more than 300 sovereign states who could do whatever they wanted, whether the Reichstag was a talking shop hat never did anything except stopping the emperor from becoming a proper monarch. And, as usual, we will talk about money and printing, and why German politician speeches are invariably long on fact and short on rhetoric.

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Ep. 225: Imperial Reform 1495 - The Ewige Landfrieden (Public Peace) of 1495 - History of the Germans

Thu, 12 Feb 2026 05:00:00 +0100

Let me start today’s episode with some outrageous national stereotypes. If an Englishman is disappointed with the way the affairs of state are conducted, he writes a letter to his member of Parliament. A Frenchman in that same situation rents a tractor and dumps manure outside the Palais d’Elysee. A German threatens to file a lawsuit with the constitutional court, the Bundesverfassungsgericht.

Where did the Germans pick up the belief that courts and the law will protect them against government overreach? Sure, 19th and early 20th century judges had on occasion stood up to the Kaiser’s administration and the Grundgesetz, the liberal constitution of 1949, had become a cornerstone of our national identity following the comprehensive loss of moral standing.

But there is also a long strain that goes back to the Holy Roman Empire and the two imperial courts, the Reichskammergericht and the Reichshofrat. These courts have a bad reputation, not only because Johan Wolfgang von Goethe saw it fit to ridicule his former place of work. However, not everyone shared this negative perspective. Many social groups down to mere commoners relied on these independent judges to protect their life and property against rapacious princes.

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Manchester University Press - Law, society and political culture in late medieval and Reformation Germany

The Imperial Reform of 1495 with Prof. Duncan Hardy - History of the Germans

Thu, 19 Feb 2026 05:00:00 +0100

Prof Duncan Hardy is one of the leading experts in the history of the Holy Roman Empire and one of his main topics is the Imperial reform of 1495, making him the ideal guest for our show.

In his first book, Associative Political Culture in the Holy Roman Empire he tries to define what the Holy Roman Empire was a question we will almost certainly spend quite some time discussing today.

His forthcoming book, which he had so kindly sent me an advance copy, should be familiar to you all, since I do use it as a source for the show. It is titled Law, Society and Political Culture in Late Medieval and Reformation Germany and contains a large number of edited and translated primary sources illustrating German history circa 1350 to 1550.

As a special treat, listeners to the Hstory of the Germans can order the book at Manchester University press with a 30% discount. The discount code is mentioned at the end of teh interview, so listen out. You can order ithere:

Duncan has a PHD from Oxford University, fellowships from Cambridge, Erfurt and Bielefeld and currently teaches at the University of Central Florida.

And he is a fellow listener of the show. So this will be the time where all my mistakes and random speculations will be dragged into the glare of academic scrutiny.

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Ep. 226: Maximilian I (1493-1519) - A Grand Plan for a Great War - History of the Germans

Thu, 26 Feb 2026 05:00:00 +0100

Europe's political landscape is shifting fundamentally. No longer are wars fought between kings and their vassals, and emperors against popes - it is all about the balance of power. and this balaance is firmly out of whack. The largest, richest and most populous part of Europe, the empire that still formally included Italy, the Low Countries, the Swiss Confederation, Bohemia and Burgundy, was also its politically weakest entity, whilst the kings of France leveraged their smaller but more coherent state into European dominance.

The struggle between France and its neighbours with england looking on was to become the dominant political pattern of Western European politics for 250 or arguable 350 years.

Maximilian has a Grand Plan that could have nipped these centuries of death and destruction in the bud. But he did not...

Karl Marx once said that history repeates itself twice, first as tragedy and then as farce. he was wrong on many (not all) things. This one repeats not twice but ten, if not dozens of times, but first as farce and then as tragedy...

Enjoy the ride..

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Ep. 227: Landsknechte vs. Swiss Mercenaries – The Swabian (Swiss) War of 1499 - History of the Germans

Thu, 05 Mar 2026 05:00:00 +0100

Why are the Swiss called the Swiss? After all, Schwyz in only of 26 cantons, and not one of the largest ones. How did the proud and prosperous citizens of Zurich or Berne, mighty city states in their own right, decide they wanted to be named after a mountainous region largely inhabited by peasants tending to their gorgeous brown cattle, the Braunvieh. They even called their national airline Swissair, until my former colleagues at McKinsey let the air out of that one.

So, why Swiss? The answer goes back to today’s topic, a war that the Swiss call the Schwabenkreig or Swabian War. This war played a massive role in Swiss historiography, and its main battles at the Caven and at Dornach was mentioned in the same breath as Morgarten and Sempach. It was seen as the moment when Switzerland de facto exited the Holy Roman Empire and began ploughing its own furrow in European history. Meanwhile in Germany, this war that we called the Schweizerkreig or Swiss War is largely forgotten amongst the hundreds of other military conflicts.

It was also the first of many contests between the two formidable fighting forces of the Renaissance, the Swiss Reisläufer and the German Landsknechte. These soldiers of fortune have percolated the national consciousness on both sides, their fanciful dress depicted in art on both sides of the Rhine and still providing one of Rome’s most instagrammable photo opportunities.

That on top of the usual incompetence and skullduggery should be incentive enough to listen to this episode.

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Ep. 228: Maximilian I (1493-1519) - The Princes and the Emperor. - History of the Germans

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 05:00:00 +0100

If there was one group that consistently thwarted Maximilian’s grand plans for world domination, it was the princes of the Holy Roman Empire. He had given in to their demands for Imperial Reform, had granted the Reichstag far reaching powers, had established the Reichskammergericht as a law court independent of imperial authority and had announced the much longed for ban on feuding. But did the princes, counts, knights and cities hold up their end of the bargain and paid him taxes to raise the armies needed to defend the borders of the empire – well you bet.

They left him hanging before Livorno, they collected berries instead of fighting in the Swiss war, and – spoiler alert – they will not raise a little finger to help Ludovioco il Moro to regain his duchy of Milan, even though Milan had been an imperial fief since the days of Charlemagne and Otto the Great. No money, no soldiers, nothing.

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Ep. 229: Joanna the (not?) Mad (1504-1555) - How the Habsburgs gained Spain - History of the Germans

Thu, 19 Mar 2026 05:00:00 +0100

“Bella gerant alii, tu felix Austria nube" – ‘Let others wage war; thou, happy Austria, marry’ is one of the few terms that almost anyone with a cursory interest in European history knows, only rivalled by the Voltaire quote thou shall not utter in my presence ever. It evokes the image of a handsome alpine boy full of charm and apple strudel wooing some princess into peacefully handing over the richest lands is Europe. And this narrative of peaceful transition to a benign dynasty is another one of the great propaganda successes of the house of Habsburg.

The saying was attributed to Matthias Corvinus, the king of Hungary who had once occupied Vienna, then to the humanist Ulrich von Hutten, but first evidence of its use dates back to 1654, more than 150 years after the famous marriages that made an empire. From 1680 it was read out at Habsburg weddings to emphasise the peaceful nature of its rulers.

It definitely did not originate in the days of Maximilian I when all these dynastic alliances were formed and bore fruit. Talking about gentle and peaceful transition was preposterous against the backdrop of a 15 -year long war over the succession to the grand Dukes of Burgundy, and the roller coaster ride that is today’s topic, the way the Habsburgs acquired the crown of Spain.

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Ep.230: Margaret of Austria (1480-1530) - The League of Cambrai - History of the Germans

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 05:00:00 +0100

Another Thursday and another episode dealing with another epic fail of our hero, Maximilian I. But despite a military campaign that once again failed for all the usual reasons, no money, no strategy, no luck, this time he is rescued not by a marriage or imperial princes suddenly inflicted with an unlikely case of backbone, but by his daughter, Margaret, archduchess of Austria, dowager duchess of Savoy and governor of the Netherlands.

In an age that featured a number of impressive women, from Caterina Sforza to Elisabeth I, Margaret may be lesser known, but could easily hold her own amongst such illustrious company. She brought together an alliance that rescued her father’s lands, re-established imperial power in Northern Italy and brought the mighty republic of Venice almost to collapse. And then did it again, again and once more.

Meanwhile her father first made himself emperor in the least impressive ceremony ever, before throwing his hat in the ring to become – tat, tat, taa – the pope.

Ep. 231: Maximilian I (1493-1519) - Marrying Bohemia and Hungary - History of the Germans

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 05:00:00 +0100

You have almost certainly seen the image in today’s episode artwork before. It is a family portrait showing Maximilian, his first wife Marie of Burgundy, his son, Philip the Handsome and three children. When Bernhard Strigel painted this image in around the year 1516, Philip the Handsome was already dead for 10 years and Marie of Burgundy had gone more than 30 years before. Then there are the inscriptions over the heads of these well-known and easily identifiable figures. There is a lot of Habsburg chin on show here. But they do not describe Maximilian as emperor, but as Cleophas, blood brother of Joseph, husband of the divine Virgin Mary, Marie of Burgundy is Mary Cleophas, sister of the Virgin Mary, and Philip the Handsome as James the Lesser, apostle and son of the other two. Two of the three little boys are named as Joseph the Just and Simon the Zealot, the cousin of the lord. Who are these saints? Well they do appear in the bible, so they are real, but in very minor roles. One of them was even rejected as an apostle. But they do have something special, they are Jesus’ aunt, uncle, nephews and cousin. And since he had died without offspring, his heirs. So this is a picture about succession and inheritance, not necessarily about family love.

Ok, making the emperor the brother in law of Joseph is quite odd already, but let’s talk about the three children. They were all alive when this picture was painted and roughly the age they are depicted as. The one in the middle is Charles, the future emperor Charles V. And the little boy cuddling up to Maximilian is his brother Ferdinand, the future emperor Ferdinand I., again identified as holy nephew and cousin. But who is the third child? Well, that is Louis, the future king Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia, son of king Vladislav II and his French wife Anne de Foix. So no close blood relation. What does he do in one of the most famous Habsburg family portraits? It must have something to do with succession and inheritance.

That is indeed what we are going to talk about today. Little Louis will be the key to the creation of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, this agglomeration of lands centered around Austria, Czechia and Hungary that stayed or was made to stay together for nearly 400 years.

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Ep. 232: The Ottomans – From Mehmet the Conqueror to Selim the Grim (1444-1520) - History of the Germans

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 05:00:00 +0100

These last dozen or so episodes we have examined the genesis of two of the three major strategic preoccupations of the Habsburg empire, the rivalry with the French kings and the relationship with the imperial princes. Today we will look at the build-up of the third major strategic challenge to the rulers of the Holy Roman Empire, the Ottomans. One can argue, and many have, that the threat of an Ottoman invasion in the 1520s and 1530s prevented the emperor Charles V from clamping down on the protestants in the empire. By the time the border had been stabilised and the Habsburgs could focus again on the religious and political changes in the German lands, it was too late to reverse events. There is an element of irony here that I will refrain from elaborating on.

When Constantinople fell in 1453, the Christian nations of Western Europe assumed that they could regain the ancient capital of Byzantium and even Jerusalem if only they were united under the crusading banner. By the time Suleiman the Magnificent appeared before Belgrade in 1521, that had become inconceivable. The Christian nations, and in particular the Habsburgs were on their back foot.

So, what had happened in these 70 years that made the Ottoman armies appear unbeatable?

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Ep. 233: Maximilian I (1493-1519) - Last Days and Legacy - History of the Germans

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 17:00:00 +0100

The last decade of emperor Maximilian’s reign was overshadowed by all three challenges to the emerging Habsburg empire gaining strength. The Ottoman empire was piling on resources by taking over Syria, Lebanon and Egypt. A vigorous new king of France, Francois I was turning the tide in the incessant Italian wars into his favor. And finally the greatest of threats to the dynasty emerged as the Prince Electors were contemplating to raise that self-same Francois I to the imperial title.

In this episode we will look at how the prematurely aged and exhausted emperor tried to shield his grandsons Charles and Ferdinand from the ton of bricks that was coming down on them. And we will look at his last days and legacy. Clocking in at 18 episodes, Maximilian did achieve one of his objectives in life, outpacing the great emperor Frederick Barbarossa. Let’s find out whether he did this only in terms of number of HotGPod episodes, or in other ways too.

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Trailer for The Early Habsburgs - Their Fall and Rise

Sun, 19 Apr 2026 07:45:00 +0100

The House of Habsburg once ruled Spain, Benelux, Austria, Hungary, Czechia, most of Italy, at times Portugal and all of Latin America, the Philippines and of course, the Holy Roman Empire. Most histories of the Habsburgs start out with Maximilian I, his marriage alliances that brought together this empire. But he was not the first Habsburg emperor, and by no means the first Habsburg ruler of the Holy Roman Empire. Their history goes back to the 13th century when they almost established their dynasty on the throne, had it not been for John Parricida murdering his uncle. In this show we follow the dramatic events that saw this dynasty rising and then falling hard, its struggles to recover, the feats and forgeries, the victories and terrible defeats that shaped this family and its lore. We take the story from Rudolf of Habsburgs’ ascent to the throne in 1273 to the election of Charles V in 1519.

Ep. 234: The Charisma of Emperor Maximilian (1493-1519) - History of the Germans

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 05:00:00 +0100

Maximilian I died on January 12th, 1519. But his likeness is everywhere. None of his predecessors left behind as many depictions of their life, from being fed by his nurse as a toddler to the Totenbild, the picture of the emperor in death, stripped of all his paraphernalia, even his teeth broken out.

If you search in google for the most reproduced image of a Holy Roman Emperor, two come up, the portrait of Maximilian that Albrecht Dürer produced in Augsburg in 1518, as shown on last weeks episode artwork and Titian’s equestrian portrait of Charles V after the battle of Mühlberg, which in turn is a composition that goes back to several equestrian portraits of Maximilian I.

Basically, Maximilian I is the most visually present Holy Roman emperor of them all. And that is not by chance. As he said on several occasions, quote:

"Whoever does not provide for his commemoration during his lifetime has no commemoration after his death and is forgotten with the sound of the bell that rings at his burial"

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Ep. 235: The Youth and Election of the Emperor Charles V (1520-1555) - History of the Germans

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 05:00:00 +0100

Born during a ball in Ghent on 24 February 1500, Charles of Habsburg would grow up to rule an empire stretching from the Philippines to Prague and from Lima to Lauwersoog. But who was the man behind one of history's most powerful titles — and how did an unremarkable teenager come to be elected Holy Roman Emperor?

In this episode, we explore the remarkable — and often dysfunctional — upbringing of Charles V. Raised like an orphan in the Burgundian Netherlands while his mother Joanna of Castile was confined at Tordesillas, Charles was shaped by two very different mentors: the theologian Adrian of Utrecht, who introduced him to Erasmus and laid the groundwork for his complex relationship with the Reformation, and William de Croy, Lord of Chièvres, who drilled into him the discipline of statecraft.

We examine how Charles' worldview was rooted in Burgundian chivalric tradition, why his advisors kept him politically cautious in his early reign, and how the death of his grandfather Maximilian I in 1519 forced him to step up and fight for the imperial crown against the formidable Francis I of France.

We also cover the extraordinary financial muscle of banker Jakob Fugger, the crucial diplomatic role of Margaret of Austria, and how a brief stop in Dover to visit Henry VIII helped prevent a Franco-English alliance that could have derailed everything at the Field of Cloth of Gold.

Topics covered in this episode:

Charles V's childhood in Mechelen and his education under Adrian of Utrecht and Lord Chièvres
The Burgundian chivalric culture that shaped his worldview
The death of Maximilian I and the scramble for the imperial election of 1519
The role of the Fugger banking dynasty in funding Charles' election campaign
The Field of Cloth of Gold and Habsburg diplomacy with Henry VIII
The coronation at Aachen in October 1520 and what it meant for the future of the Holy Roman Empire

Plus: an update on upcoming episodes and a summer break announcement.

Ep. 236: Charles V (1520-1555) - The Battle of Pavia - History of the Germans

Thu, 07 May 2026 05:00:00 +0100

In 1521 four men dominated Europe. They were all in their twenties: King Henry VIII of England, born 1491, King Francois I of France, born 1494, Suleiman the Magnificent, Ottoman Sultan, born that same year, 1494 and the youngest of them, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Spain, Sicily, Naples and Sardinia, lord of the Netherlands, duke of Austria and Count of Tyrol.

How the world had changed. In the days of Charles’ predecessor, the emperor Maximilian, European politics was a impenetrable maze of alliances and enmities involving roughly a dozen mid-sized powers trying to get a leg up on each other.

Now we are down to four guys, dancing a political Ceilidh, all elegantly dressed, swiftly moving and swapping partners at every turn.

In this episode we are going to look at the first rounds of Gay Gordons and Dashing White Sergeants up to the point where Charles V gets a lock on Francois I at the Battle of Pavia in 1525

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Ep. 237: How Italy Fell to the Habsburgs - From the Peace of Madrid to the Sack of Rome 1527. - History of the Germans

Thu, 14 May 2026 05:00:00 +0100

We are coming closer to the end of our series on the Fall and Rise of the House of Habsburg. We have seen the reconsolidation of Austria, the acquisition of Burgundy, the inheritance of Spain and today, we will look at the last stages of the Italian wars. This conflict, kicked off by king Charles VIII in 1494 had given “rise to changes of dominions, subversion of kingdoms, desolation of countries, destruction of cities and the cruellest massacres, but also new fashions, new customs, new and bloody ways of waging warfare, and diseases which had been unknown to that time”. Many players of this game had exited stage left and it was now just France and the Habsburgs in various alliances with the remaining Italian powers, who fought for control. The War of the League of Cognac, 1526 to 1530 was when brutality reached its zenith with the Sacco di Roma, the Sack of Rome that brought back the specter of the Vandals.

A lot of drama to get through.

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Ep. 238: The Habsburg Empire at its Zenith - Ferdinand I and the Siege of Vienna - History of the Germans

Thu, 21 May 2026 05:00:00 +0100

Today we celebrate the topping out of the Habsburg empire. By the middle of the 16th century it reached its furthest extent as a political entity ruled by one man. Over the last 42 episodes we have seen this family of minor counts playing their game of snakes and ladders until they had amassed lordships over Austria, the Netherlands, Spain and large parts of Italy. Today we look at how they finally got hold of the last bits, Bohemia and Hungary.

The story features a dutiful younger brother, the most cruel execution I have ever heard of, a foolish duke and an even more foolish king, the collapse of a kingdom, a love story and the reason for the incessant Habsburg inbreeding. I hope that will be enough to fill the last episode of this season.

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